Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced at Bitcoin 2022 that the company has partnered with three of the world’s largest payments providers, Shopify, NCR and Blackhawk Network to enable bitcoin payments at stores throughout the country. He explained that the integration eliminates legacy banks from the payments process, saving merchants on fees and enabling privacy for shoppers.
“You’re gonna be able to walk into a grocery store, to Whole Foods, to a Chipotle, if you want to use a Lightning node over Tor, you do that,” Mallers said on stage at Bitcoin 2022. “Any online merchant that uses Shopify can accept payments without the 1949 boomer [credit card] network, receive it instantly, cash final, no intermediary, no 3% fee.”
The announcement is a major innovation in merchants' ability to interact with the Bitcoin network and in users’ ability to privately and permissionless make purchases throughout the U.S. Now, they will be able to take advantage of the cheap, instant and open access offered by Bitcoin.
An image shared by Mallers as part of the presentation listed McDonald’s, Walmart, Walgreens and more U.S. franchises as places where the Strike integration will be useable.
Mallers also emphasized that he is dedicated to protecting Bitcoin innovation in the United States, reporting, “I’ve been working with Senator Cynthia Lummis to make sure that in the United States of America we support this open payment standard and it isn't threatened by anybody else.”
Last year, at Bitcoin 2021, Mallers, alongside President Nayib Bukele, announced that El Salvador would introduce a bill to make bitcoin legal tender, which would later be passed. This was a historic announcement and a turning point in the rapid adoption by politicians we’ve seen over the last year.
Strike is a global payments network that utilizes Lightning. After last years’ El Salvador announcement, the industry has been looked to Mallers as a leader in global adoption and development toward nation-state Bitcoin usage. The announcements today only added to the company's reputation of increasing access to the Bitcoin network.
Mallers finished the presentation by saying, “This is our announcement,” referring to the larger Bitcoin community.
Bitcoin 2022 is part of the Bitcoin Event Series hosted by BTC Inc, the parent company of Bitcoin Magazine.